THE FAMILY DOCTOR AS SPECIALIST

The general practitioner as family doctor.

THE problem of finding and defining the ethos of general practice is not solved by l giving a new name to the discipline. The search for a new name is rather a symptom of the uneasiness that general practitioners experience when they come to look for what is special or separate in their department of medical practice. One name in particular has gained currency-'the family doctor'. The purpose o...

Family Doctor

Nurse specialist in family planning.

In an experimental clinic, run by nurse specialists in family planning, a total of 768 patients were seen in the first year. Oral contraception was dispensed for 377 patients and 187 intrauterine devices (IUCDs) were inserted; a further 204 IUCD patients attended only for follow-up visits. All side effects were adequately diagnosed by the nurse specialist.

The Future of the Family Doctor

"Throughout the world the cost of modern hospital care is giving cause for alarm ... We are, in fact, spending proportionately less than we were on domiciliary medical care. .. This is a shortsighted policy. Unless the family doctor can do his work efficiently, the cost of the hospital service will be bound to rise." These opening phrases must challenge everyone who does not see medicine only i...

The Role of the Family Doctor.

Two documents appear in this issue of SA Family Practice. The role of the General Practitioner,/Family Physician in Hcalth Care Systems, contains the studied and well considered views of the World Organisation of Family Doctors' and the other, The Role of the Doctor in Primarv Health Care'. the views of a broad ipectrum of leading S African cloctors. In 1992 we hope to move both nationally and ...